WTT Star Contender Goa | Ma Long along with five other Chinese athletes to skip the event

“Ma Long, Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and He Zhuojia have withdrawn from WTT Star Contender Goa due to the coronavirus and injuries,” WTT tweeted. In addition to that, the replacement of these players was also announced — Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Yidi and Quan Tianyi will replace Ma Long, Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng respectively.

Jia Nan Yuan replaces Wang Manyu, and Chinese Taipei’s Liu Hsing-Yin now goes straight to the main draw instead of playing in the qualifiers. This, in turn, could be a blessing in disguise for the Indian contingent, led by e.g Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal. Other Indians in the fray are G Sathiyan, Payas Jain, Wesley Do Rosario, Sreeja Akula, Suhana Saini, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Archana Kamath, Sanil Shetty, Diya Chitale and Reeth Tennison.